Kakenuke★Forward to Our Sparking Youth!

Kakenuke Forward is very disappointing. The writing is pretty intolerable for 90% of the game. There are quite a few plotholes that come up. There is so much dead air just fawning over cute VA noises rather than anything of actual substance. So many dates that are just "haha aren't I cute protag?" and barely any conflicts in 3 of the 6 routes. However, it's a moege, so some may say this is all expected of the medium. Why I call this disappointing is simple: they have 2 really compelling throughlines that go completely unused in 4/6 of the game. The protagonist's family and his hatred for the headmaster are only resolved in the step-sister's story. And there is a mystery that is barely hinted at that shows up in the final unlockable route. Instead of spreading those throughlines, they just shove them away and forget about them in the others. And of the main 4 heroines, only Hibiki has any sort of semblance of a compelling route. The other 3 are literally just dates, a goal the love interest has, and overcoming the obstacles to those goals, with hours of random inane filler thrown in between. If they had interspersed the actually interesting family drama throughout the routes, then…

this is my youth

It's not the worst, but if you are coming from SAGA PLANETS' iconic Kinkoi, be careful with your expectations. I'd say almost every aspect of this title is inferior unless a character or the atmosphere specifically clicks with you. It took me a good bit of time to finish this title; I was never [i]disappointed[/i] by a route, but none of them left me with a sense motivation or excitement to start a new one. Hibiki was probably the highlight for me because of her "genki childhood friend" character type and the chemistry she develops with the main character during her route. I persevered the more dull moments because of the hope of the Kikka route, with my expectations fairly high because of how Kinkoi handled its final route. It's probably twice as good as any of the other routes, but it also just feels like something you could get much more concisely in a KEY game (sort of a compliment I suppose). The way Kinkoi funneled little moments across the game that culminated in huge, touching reveals in the true/final route was much superior, while this feels less like a grand culmination of the game and more like a convenient way to pull off a few emotional moments that also happen to …

Story is mid, fav route is Riri and Hibiki. PS: I would gladly be Kikka's slave.

Decent game overall. Main route is alright but most of the character routes are missing stakes or interesting drama. Kikkas route is amazing though 10/10, the only bad thing is you have to play all of the other routes except Ritsu's. Hibiki's route is also pretty decent but not on the same level. Would recommend getting it on sale.

Honestly, I liked it better then Kin'iro Loveriche. Excellent characters and setting, though the protagonist is a weak point. His personality and backstory were very interesting in the common route, but it feels like it was forgotten about and he turns into a generic protagonist after you go into the character routes. Riri, Shiori and Kaido routes were okay. Hibiki, Kikka and Ritsu routes were quite good. Overall, 7.5/10 PS: You absolutely need the patch to play this VN